Centre Pompidou Façade Through Autumn Plane Trees, Paris

4 October 2017 · Paris

Plane trees and structural steel compete for the same patch of sky. Shot from below at the foot of the Centre Pompidou, the upward angle turns Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers's exposed pipework into a second canopy — white columns, cross-braces, and service ducts layered against the branches. The building recedes; the geometry takes over. Beaubourg wears its infrastructure on the outside, and from this angle the trees do the same.